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Why 'Good' and 'Bad' don't exist
Mind Mastery Minutes - V1.20
Henry Adams
September 02, 2024
The Farmer and his Horse:
…One day his horse runs away. And his neighbor comes over and says, to commiserate, “I’m so sorry about your horse.” And the farmer says “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” The neighbor is confused because this is clearly terrible. The horse is the most valuable thing he owns.
But the horse comes back the next day and he brings with him 12 feral horses. The neighbor comes back over to celebrate, “Congratulations on your great fortune!” And the farmer replies again: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”
And the next day the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild horses and he’s thrown and breaks his leg. The neighbor comes back over, “I’m so sorry about your son.” The farmer repeats: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”
Sure enough, the next day the army comes through their village and is conscripting able-bodied young men to go and fight in war, but the son is spared because of his broken leg.
And this story can go on and on like that. Good. Bad. Who knows?
From a book by Jon Muth called “Zen Shorts.”
My biggest takeaway from the story is that…
Nothing is intrinsically good or bad.
We often think things are happening to us rather than just happening.
Things happen → We perceive them → We judge “good” or “bad” based on the benefits/costs we expect.
Seeing the world like this causes us to react poorly when things don’t go as we expect or hope, or to feel mistreated when many 'bad' or 'unfair' things happen.
It’s important to preface here that perception and reality are not the same.
Assertions of “good” or “bad” come from perception which differs from person to person.
Remember this dress?
The dress (reality) appears to be either black and blue or white and gold depending on who you ask (perception).
Let’s take a look at another example.
After a long, dry summer, it start to rain heavily.
Is this good or bad?
Well…
It depends on how you perceive it:
If you’re hosting a BBQ in your garden, then the fact that it’s raining is clearly a “bad” thing.
But if you’re a farmer, a break from the dry weather could save your harvest and livelihood.
Imagine these two are neighbours, experiencing the exact same rain.
They are interpreting the same reality, but experiencing completely different conclusions.
This applies to every situation!
Your perception of events dictates your experience of them.
This is the power of perception.
There’s no such thing as bad weather; you just have the wrong clothes.
“But what about things that are *clearly* bad?”
FAMINE
INEQUALITY
PEDOPHILIA
CANCER
SLAVERY
ANIMAL CRUELTY
I’m not about to argue that these things aren’t “bad”.
Life can be brutal.
Terrible things happen to good people.
What I am arguing is that…
All things are a mixture of both good and bad.
Even the worst of things.
Many things that we typically view as “bad” may actually be a cause for “good.”
There’s the son of a terrorist, whose father’s actions led him to become a peace activist.
Or the climber that lost both of his legs and became a better climber because of prosthetics he invented
And countless other examples.
This isn’t about having a positive mindset.
It’s understanding that you create reality by how you perceive it.
It’s easy to think that circumstances define our lives, but the truth is, it’s our reactions that shape our experiences.
It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters
“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed.
Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”